Cop used his job to commit identity theft, feds say

As a police officer, Malinsky Bazile was supposed to "serve and protect" the public, but federal prosecutors said he followed a different code – "to steal and victimize."

Investigators said he abused his position of trust — and his police computer — to commit identity theft, stealing the personal information of hundreds of people and using it to file fraudulent income tax returns.

Bazile, 28, of Miramar, who started working for the Miami Police Department in 2008, went on trial Tuesday in federal court in Fort Lauderdale.

Prosecutor Michael Berger told jurors that when Bazile was confronted by investigators, he admitted he made $130,000 to $140,000 from the fraud in 2011 and 2012.

Though investigators say Bazile initially confessed, he has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges of aggravated identity theft and related crimes.

Bazile's lawyer, Saam Zangeneh, did not give an opening statement to jurors but his questioning of witnesses suggested that he is trying to raise doubts about whether it was Bazile who actually used the computer.

Prosecutors said Bazile walked investigators through his method, showing them how he used his police access to Florida's computerized driver's license database to search for victims – mostly women with common last names like "Smith" and "Gonzalez" – and then used their personal information to file fraudulent income tax returns, prosecutors said.

He had the refunds loaded on pre-paid debit cards and withdrew money at ATMs in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, Berger said.

When Bazile took out money, he usually wore a hat pulled low and tried to hide his face from the security cameras inside the ATMs, though the photos show it was the same person each time, Berger said.

But on one occasion, prosecutors said, the camera captured a clear shot of the person using a woman's debit card and it was Bazile, wearing a Chicago Bulls hat. When investigators questioned him at his home, they said they found the hat and shredded debit cards.

Bazile also handwrote a confession, which he later tried to prevent prosecutors from using against him. "I'm sorry for any problems that I could have caused the victims of my crime. I do apologize from the bottom of my heart. I will pay back any debt," Bazile reportedly wrote in a letter included in court records.

Investigators from a joint FBI and Miami anti-corruption task force installed special software on Bazile's department-issued laptop computer that secretly photographed activity on the computer screen every 30 seconds. They found he was looking up the names of people who told investigators they had never been pulled over by him or had even met him. Many were victims of identity fraud.

The defense asked several questions about Bazile's stepbrother, Jean Charles, and asked if someone other than Bazile could have used his computer. The investigation of Bazile started after Fort Lauderdale police arrested Charles in March 2011 and found he had $31,000 worth of prepaid debit cards, including several in the names of people whose information had been looked up by Bazile, court records show.